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Across the Adriatic Sea from Italy is part of the former Yugoslavia that offers fantastic ports, lovely towns and coastal views galore. While some major cruise lines send huge ships skimming the edge, there’s a better approach.

For us, the best way to cruise Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast is aboard a ship like the MV Princess Eleganza which accommodates up to 36 passengers who are served by a tremendously accommodating crew of no more than ten.

We began our voyage in the sunny port of Split that boasts a population of over 150,000, making it the second largest city in Croatia (after the capital city Zagreb).

	The Port of Split

Split feels like a small, sea-focused port where ships of our size can tie up near all the sights.

	The tie up dock in Split

Just a short stroll from the tie-up is the major tourist attraction of Split: The Palace of Diocletian, emperor of Rome from A.D. 284 to A.D. 305. Unlike so many other emperors over Rome’s history, Diocletian voluntarily retired here spending eleven years constructing a huge palace, much of which remains in place to draw you in today.

Underneath the palace are interesting spaces demonstrating the construction methods of the time . . . and some modern uses such as a coffee shop under arches that are definitely not McDonalds.

If you are lucky, as you pass through the remains of the Emperor’s Entry Vestibule you will come upon a klapa group — a male a cappella group — singing traditional tunes in one of the most majestic acoustic spaces imaginable. This used to be a domed room, but the dome collapsed centuries ago leaving the sky exposed and the sunlight shining down.

	Klapa group choir

If you have time after your visit to the palace, exit through its “Golden Gate” on the northern wall into a lovely park dominated by a strange statue one might think is of the Sorcerer who ruled Mickey Mouse in Disney’s Fantasia. In fact, it is the Bishop Gregory of Nin, a tenth-century Croatian Bishop who championed the use of the Croatian language for sermons.

Just beyond the park is a “virtual reality experience” where you can take a virtual tour of the palace as it appeared during Diocletian’s reign — a fascinating experience since you have just walked through its ruins.

	Setting sail for Zadar

Next stop? The port of Zadar with half the population of Split, but with a much better-defined old Roman port. Entrance is through an impressive “Land Gate” through the old walls.

	The Land Gate of Zadar

Inside the walls you’ll find the ruins of the old Roman Forum and an imposing rounded tenth-century Church of St. Donatus. It sits next to a bell tower that was built by the Venetians in the fifteenth century but which sports upper stories added by the British in the nineteenth.

Down at the shore, with plenty of space to relax, a strange sound sets a contemplative mood. Built into the shore-side walk is a “Sea Organ” with chambers under the pavement which produce harmonic sounds from the air pressure created by the sea’s waves. It was designed by Nikola Bašić around 2004 and has become a “must-hear” as opposed to a “must-see” attraction.

	Set sail for the Island of Hvar

Next up? The smaller port of Stari Grad (literally “Old Town”) on Hvar Island, with an easy stroll from the ship through the town to view the public areas and the churches.

Lunch, however, was in a most remote, romantic spot: Malo Grablje, a completely abandoned village where we roamed the ruins while the Konoba Stori Komin restaurant staff set up a lunch of sea food right there amid the ruins.

	Lunch in the Abandoned Village

After lunch, a van took us up to the peak of the island to the Fortress of Hvar which afforded tremendous views of the Town of Hvar.

We walked down into Hvar Town and found a square dominated by the renaissance-era Cathedral of St. Stephen, but I found an even more commanding spot on the square - the Hvar Theater. While the building that the theater occupies today isn’t as old as the theater company itself, that company has been performing for the public here on this spot for over four centuries. With a founding date of 1612, this claims to be the oldest public theater in Europe! Prior to that, the only theaters were in palaces and castles presenting performances for only the gentry. This theater was open to the general public.

	Depart Hvar

We left Hvar to hit the mainland at Makarska, but along the way we stopped briefly on the island of Brač in the small port town of Bol (population a mere 1,600.) It offered the best example of how small ships such as ours can get into spots that can’t welcome the huge cruise liners of today. Here we had the beach right off our bow.

	Princess Eleganza at the beach

We had time for a stroll through the town, then down to another secluded beach, and along the harbor to see some of the public art, including a striking bronze of two fishermen hauling in their nets.

As we left the port, we spotted the Dominican Monastery with its church of St. Mary of Mercy on a point along the coast of Brač.

	Dominican Monastery and Church of St. Mary of Mercy

Next major stop? Korčula a lovely walled old town that is worth a day’s exploration.

	Korčula from the sea

Two grand staircases offer access to the old town.

The most impressive is the Great Land Gate (Veliki Revelin). The entrance from dock-side allows easy access right from your gangplank to begin touring the tiny streets, the open spaces and the churches.

Down one of those streets is the house that may well have been Marco Polo’s - or maybe not! There is some documentation that he came from Dalmatia. But Korčula? Well, Korčula certainly thinks so. There’s a museum to visit, and, of course, a shop.

	Marco Polo Shop

Finally, we sailed on to the gem of the Dalmatian Coast: Dubrovnik. We had to dock in the port of Gruz near where the big ships dock with a modern highway bridge to remind us we were deep into the twenty-first century.

	Gruz, the port area serving Dubrovnik

A short ride to the walled city carried us back to the fifteenth or sixteenth century when this city-state dominated commerce across the Mediterranean and even on to the far-off markets of China and the spice islands. The feeling of the time-warp is especially strong because the old town is off limits to automobiles.

	The old port of Dubrovnik

The walls themselves provide the best way to experience this amazing locale. You can circumnavigate the entire space gaining perspective as you go.

While the walls are impressive, the views down into the town are fabulous.

Then, descend to street level and explore some more.

One disturbing aspect of the stroll through Dubrovnik’s streets is the effort to make sure visitors understand the trauma the city endured during the Croatian War of Independence when the Yugoslav People’s Army besieged Dubrovnik, setting much of the town on fire.

It is such a contrast to the vibrant, welcoming old town of today.

	Dubrovnik’s main street, “Placa” is better known as the Stradun.

Croatia’s Dalmatian coast is more than just a series of wonderful islands and ports, it is the access route for many interior treasures as well.

	The Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina (although in the Herzegovina portion of the nation, you may see more Croatian flags than Herzegovinan)

One must-do side trip took us to Mostar on the Neretva River in the Herzegovina region of the neighboring nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city may have over a hundred thousand population, but the major attraction is the Turkish style village on both sides of the Neretva at the site of the Stari Most - the old bridge the Ottoman Empire built over the river in the sixteenth century. It was the longest single-span stone bridge in the world when it was built.

The bridge was all but demolished during the Bosnian War in the 1990s. But once the war was over, an internationally-supported project rebuilt not only the bridge but the surrounding buildings. As a result, Stari Most stands today just as it did then, when Suleiman the Magnificent called for a stone bridge nearly 100 feet long with a soaring single span. It joins the Croat community on the west bank and the Bosniak community on the east.

	The Stari Most stands today

With a teeming bazar on both banks, athletic youths who belong to a divers club jostle for a spot at the apex of the bridge where they seek “donations” to make it worth their while to jump the nearly 75 feet into what they claim is “the coldest river in world.” (About €30 will do.) Notice the splash under the bridge in the photo above - caught one!

	The Flag of Montenegro

Another international side trip you should not miss is a visit to Kotor Town in Montenegro, just a couple of hours on a bus out of Dubrovnik. It is a gorgeous drive along the Bay of Kotor which at times seems more like a fjord than a bay. After passing the Verige Strait where the bay narrows to less than a thousand feet, you arrive in Perast and take a boat over to 17th century Baroque Catholic church Our Lady of the Rocks. It stands on an island built by dumping over a hundred shiploads of rock at the spot in the bay that legend says an icon of Our Lady was discovered.

We took a boat to Kotor Town all the way at the top of the bay. There, we found an old town with a wall on one side and the sheer face of the mountains on the other. A lovely place for a stroll.

On the way back, we crossed over what looked like a running stream but which locals maintain is the world’s shortest river. Named the Angry River - Ljuta in Montenegrin - it runs into the bay from the base of a cliff . . . a distance of just over 600 feet. However, in fact, it runs underground for miles before emerging for its brief run down to the bay. Still, when it has rained recently, it makes a pretty waterfall.

	The Ljuta River - represented as the shortest river in the world

The final diversion into the interior from the Croatian coast takes us up into Croatia itself to visit the Skradinsky Buk waterfall in the Krka National Park. Unlike famous waterfalls where water pours over high cliffs like Niagara in North America, Iguazu in South America or Victoria in Africa, the falls of the Krka River are low, white water cascades over buildups of limestone, one after another after another - with side falls and small rapids creating a seemingly never-ending vista of white water.

We saw all of the above in less than two weeks - 11 days to be precise. It was only possible because our small ship, the 36-passenger MV Princess Eleganza, could take us precisely where we wanted to go, when we wanted to go. She is but one of as many as a hundred small ships which served Croatia’s coast during the high season of summer in 2024. What a grand way to see such a grand coast.

	MV Princess Eleganza

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brad Hathaway retired to live with his wife on a houseboat in Sausalito, California, after nearly two decades covering Theater in Washington, DC, on Broadway, and nationwide. A former vice chair of the American Theatre Critics Association he edits that association’s newsletter. He's standing here before the Peaks of Torres del Paine.